Occupation and earnings: third quarter of 2004

This was 2.3 percent higher than a year earlier, compared with a gain of 2.7 percent in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) over the same period.

Among the major occupational groups, persons employed full time in managerial, professional, and related occupations had the highest median weekly earnings—$1,111 for men and $776 for women. Men and women in service jobs earned the least.

Overall, the median weekly earnings of men in full-time wage and salary jobs were $704, compared with women’s median earnings of $571.

Data on weekly earnings are from the Current Population Survey, a nationwide sample survey of households in which respondents are asked, among other things, how much each wage and salary worker usually earns. Find more information on earnings in "Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers: Third Quarter 2004" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 04-2167.